


We'll Buy You The Rice

by fictorium



Category: The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Genre: F/F, Matchmaking, POV Child, Parent Trapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-18
Updated: 2015-03-18
Packaged: 2018-03-18 12:15:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3569318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictorium/pseuds/fictorium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Prompt:</b> Miranda/Andrea, The twins plot and achieve getting their Mother what she truly wants and needs<br/>
<b>Dedication:</b> For <span class="ljuser i-ljuser i-ljuser-type-P"><a class="i-ljuser-profile" href="http://mxrolkr.livejournal.com/profile"><img class="i-ljuser-userhead"/></a><a class="i-ljuser-username" href="http://mxrolkr.livejournal.com/"><b>mxrolkr</b></a></span>, who is not only lovely, but also gave me a prompt that made me smile while I was writing it. It's a departure from my usual tendency towards angsty smut, and I hope it's as fun to read as it was to work on :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	We'll Buy You The Rice

“I am a total genius!” Caroline shouts as she comes barreling into Cassidy’s room. Cassidy loves her sister, but she’s seriously considering asking Cara to have a lock put on the door.

“Spill,” Cassidy demands, minimizing the Pages document that holds her essay on the Abraham Lincoln.

“What do really stressed people need? Relaxation. We get her a spa weekend, somewhere super fancy,” Caroline is practically vibrating at her own brilliance, and Cassidy wonders how they ever shared a womb for nine months without killing each other.

“Don’t you remember two years ago? Stephen did that for her birthday. Mom left after thirteen minutes because she didn’t like the towels.”

“...oh,” Caroline sighs, her good mood deflated. “Well, what’s your great idea, brainiac?”

“Car, it’s only October. Get back to me after Thanksgiving.”

“What if things sell out? Or get booked up? I mean, you can’t start too soon with these things, because--”

“Then we ask Emily to fix it for us. Simple,” Cassidy points out.

“Right!” Caroline has her groove back, judging by the dorky finger guns she points at her sister. “It’s gonna be fine.”

*

Caroline flicks through the tabs that Cassidy has opened for her, enthusiasm waning with every click.

“She has that already; she has two of those; she never wears that shade of green; can you really see Mom in a hot air balloon?”

Cassidy sucks in a deep breath and counts to ten. She will not yell at her sister for being right, no matter how annoying it currently is. It’s been six weeks of searching and texting and emailing and holding impromptu meetings before dinner like this, and still they have nothing great on their shortlist.

“What if we get Emily to arrange for someone really cool to take pictures of us? And then put them in a pretty frame? Moms eat that stuff up, right?” Caroline doesn’t look captivated by her own idea, but it’s something, Cassidy figures.

“Okay, I’ll email her now,” Cassidy shrugs. At least they have a sort of plan.

*

Emily doesn’t reply to her email, which annoys Cassidy quite a bit. She fully intends to wait up and corner Emily when she brings the Book (another second assistant is still on Mom’s ‘potential psycho’ list--none of them have lasted long enough this year to get off it). She gets lost in the pages of _The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing_ though, and somewhere in Chapter Fifteen she drifts off and doesn’t wake until Cara comes knocking to get them ready for school.

Mom is finishing her coffee when Cassidy gets downstairs, with her coat and bag already waiting for the day of work ahead. Her face is troubled as she reads something on her Blackberry, but when she looks up to see Cassidy, there’s that secret smile that nobody else gets to see (even Caroline). Mom always tells them that while they share everything else, they definitely get a special smile each from her that nobody else does. Cassidy has spent a lot of time flicking through photos and watching her mom around other people, and she’s pretty convinced that it’s actually true.

“Is your sister ready?” Mom asks, putting her phone down. “I thought maybe we could all leave together this morning.”

It’s a rare treat, since Mom usually leaves before they even get to pouring cereal, and Cassidy feels herself smiling at the thought.

“She’s right behind me. We’ll be quick with breakfast.”

“Good,” Mom says, less distracted now. “I spoke with your daddy last night, Bobbsey.”

“Yeah?” Cassidy asks as she pours the stupid organic granola that thankfully tastes better than it looks.

“Yes, not yeah, Cassidy,” Miranda corrects, but she’s still smiling a little when she does. “He was complaining that he doesn’t have enough recent pictures of you both. Why he can’t take some with his own camera I do not understand--”

“Mom,” Cassidy warns, because breaking her Mom’s habit of being too hard on Daddy has been a lot of hard work and it has to stick.

“Anyway,” Mom sighs in that dramatic way she has. “I’ve told Emily to arrange for you both to sit down with one of Mommy’s friends, okay? We’ll get you some lovely new clothes, and then there will be some photos for all of us.”

Cassidy sees her Christmas gift lifeline drift away right in front of her, and it takes a lot of effort not to pout and stamp her foot in sheer frustration. She just has to hope Caroline can control her temper when she hears.

“That’s... great, Mom,” Cassidy forces a grin. “But you have to be in some of the shots too. Deal?”

“Deal,” Mom says with a little laugh, and Cassidy wolfs down the rest of her breakfast.

“I’ll go fetch Caroline,” she says, wanting to escape. It’s probably best if she’s the one to break the news.

*

“This is pretty badass, Cass,” Caroline whispers, much too loudly.

“Sssh!” Cassidy warns her sister, checking one last time for the sound of their mother’s footsteps before easing open the door to her private study. Mom keeps the room locked when she’s not at home, so the only way to stage a smash and grab is when she’s in the house but otherwise occupied.

Caroline peers down over the bannister and gives a thumbs up to say that the coast is clear. Cassidy takes her cue and steps into the lovely office that she almost never gets to see. It’s not white and stark like Mom’s office at _Runway_. In here the photo frames are perched on every surface and spread over two walls. There’s no particular order to them, and they’re all personal photos instead of supermodels and fashion sketches. There’s no time to linger on the details though, or to wonder what’s changed since the last time Cassidy came in here a few months ago, crying about a sore tummy that pulled Mom reluctantly away from the Book and her pile of Post-its.

She tries the desk first, and punches the air to find all the drawers unlocked. It takes a couple of painful minutes, in which even her breathing is deafening, to unearth what she’s looking for--a simple leather-bound journal that doesn’t bear any markings of being about work. Cass flicks through it to confirm the presence of her Mom’s handwriting, but then there’s an urgent-sounding cough from the door she left slightly ajar, and she shoves the book into the pocket of her hoodie and bolts.

They’re both upstairs in Caroline’s room when they hear the study door close a few long moments later. The twins hold their breath, waiting for the crime to be discovered and the door to reopen signaling their doom.

But it doesn’t come.

Ten minutes later, with Diet Coke and some carrot sticks retrieved from the kitchen, they’re ready to begin. Cassidy flops out on her front, letting Caroline slide into position next to her. With a crunch, she opens the journal and they start reading the first page.

*

Cassidy’s been feeling pretty guilty since she first thought about swiping the journal. They really should not have taken Mom’s diary, even if most of it is either in some weird code they don’t understand, or Mom’s handwriting gets kind of sloppy after the first couple of lines. There’s still enough there for it to be clear why nobody should ever snoop like this.

Caroline is the first to wuss out. She started to wriggle uncomfortably after the three entries about Mom being upset over the fight they’d had ages ago about piano lessons. Caroline knows she was a total brat then, and she apologized to Mom with some nice flowers, but it’s not nice reading about Mom being so upset and doubting herself, all because of some cruel words from a twelve-year old.

The journal spans at least three years, and it’s clear that Mom doesn’t update it religiously or anything. Sometimes months pass between entries, and sometimes there are little daily series, all written in the same pen. When Caroline mutters something about math homework and wanders over to her desk, Cassidy rolls her eyes and carries on. They’ve done the bad thing now, they may as well get the information they came for. Cassidy is pretty hopeful because there’s almost nothing about work--she’s starting to understand the abbreviations and symbols Mom uses--and everything is about people Cassidy knows.

She gets all the way to the fall of last year without a single helpful mention of something that Mom might want or need for herself. Cassidy is a little hurt that she doesn’t feature in the pages much, since most of the abbreviated C’s seem to refer to Caroline, but then she’s the one who engages with Mom more. Anyway, Cassidy prefers the peaceful, and there are almost enough mentions (with stars) of things that Cassidy has done well to make her feel included.

It’s around this point that someone with the initial A starts appearing in the little notes Mom has been making to herself. Cassidy wracks her brain for who it might be--there are certainly some nasty comments about ‘S’ and bourbon and a few words Cassidy thinks she understands but doesn’t dare to Google. Some things are better left hazy.

She wonders if A might be a new boyfriend of Mom’s. Although the dates match up with when Stephen was still around, and Mom is still pretty mad about Daddy having girlfriends while they were married. There hasn’t been much conversation about Mom dating anyone since Stephen took his stuff and moved out, but both girls know that it’s possible. They didn’t know Stephen existed until Mom came home with that fancy new ring and sat them down for ‘an important conversation’.

Whoever A is, he appears very suddenly and Mom’s diary entries get much more frequent. But oh, this one here says _‘A brought Book tonight, a welcome change?’_ , followed by, two days later _A’s skirts are bordering on the obscene, deliberate?_. Huh, so A is a girl. And Mom is commenting on how short her skirts are.

There’s not much else to go on, as the entries space out again. Mom sounds happier in these few pages though, and Cassidy almost wants to read some of the passages aloud because it’s the version of Mom she loves the absolute most. Funny little stories about Nigel and some kind of phase with bowties, and sometimes there are little sketches in the margins or the corners--anything from a half-drawn face to the lines of a swooshy skirt, just like the drawings Mom has in her work office.

But then comes **PARIS** written in angry, dark capitals, followed by almost a page that’s scored out with a heavy hand. That’s not like Mom at all--there are almost no mistakes or crossing out in the rest of the book so far. Cassidy holds the page up to the light but she can’t see any of the blacked out words no matter how closely she looks.

It’s enough to draw Caroline back in though, and she flicks through those pages around the angry lines, looking for context. The next entry mentions divorce papers and Caroline scowls for a moment before her face lights up in recognition.

“Hey Cass, what was that assistant’s name--the stupid one who had to get us Harry Potter?”

“Annie?” Cassidy fumbles for the memory. They really do know a lot of people, and it’s not like Mom’s assistants are ever _important_.

“No, it’s Andy!” Caroline clicks her fingers like she’s just solved the mysteries of the universe. “Mom fired her in Paris, right?”

“Nuh uh,” Cassidy corrects her. “She quit, remember? Emily was crashing around on crutches for four weeks delivering the book, and I caught her one night muttering about ‘stupid fat girls who quit jobs they don’t deserve’.”

“Do you think Emily still talks to her?” Caroline ventures, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of an adventure.

“Who cares?” Cassidy says with a smirk. “We’ll make her find this Andy girl anyway.”

*

It’s kind of fun to show up at Mom’s office and give Emily what looks kind of like a heart attack. The girls already checked and they know Mom is in Brooklyn somewhere, but they act dumb just long enough to ensure that Emily will do whatever they want just to get them out of there.

“Why do you want to know about Andrea Sachs?” Emily asks, obviously suspicious of their question.

“Well, we could always ask Mom about her...” Caroline, who really is the evil twin, asks. Her fake innocence could like, totally win her a Tony, Cassidy thinks.

“No, no, no!” Emily shrieks, almost out of her mind. “If you really need to talk to her, she works for the New York Mirror now. Here,” she says, grabbing a post-it and pen, “is her email address. Now please, do not drop me in it with your mother.”

“We won’t, Em,” Cassidy promises, completely solemn.

“Unless Andy doesn’t help us, of course,” Caroline shoots back as they stroll off towards the elevator. They don’t need to turn around to imagine the fresh horror on Emily’s face.

*

It’s easy to forget, sometimes, that being the daughter of Miranda Priestly does not bend the entire world to their whims. For a start, their stupid driver refuses to take them anywhere but home or one of the approved addresses on the schedule. Roy would take them, because he knows Mom and he knows all the assistants, but he’s driving Mom full-time again and the girls are stuck with some guy who looks like a failed Santa Claus. It’s bad enough that he won’t take them wherever they want, but he doesn’t play music in the car either.

Which leaves them, Caroline points out, with no alternative but skipping some classes the next day. There’s a glee in her eyes that makes Cassidy thinks maybe her sister needs to watch a few more Lifetime movies about being a rebellious daughter, but well, they have bigger things to worry about right now.

Like the receptionist in the ugly building where the Mirror is. Mom doesn’t approve of bad language, but this chick with her ballet dancer bun and angry face is a capital-B bitch, so Cassidy doesn’t even feel bad for thinking it. Caroline is pretty close to _saying_ it, so Cassidy steps in and puts a hand over the mouth that’s almost exactly like her own.

“I told you, Andy is a friend of ours,” Cassidy tries again, using her most polite voice (which anyone who knows her could tell is totally fake. It’s the ‘mom’s assistant didn’t finish my science homework' voice).

“Miss, nobody just waltzes into the newsroom, and I don’t care how cute you think you are.”

Cassidy feels the familiar urge to pout, maybe even stamp her feet, but she’s supposed to be too ‘grown-up’ for that now. Being grown-up is going to be really, really boring. Luckily for her and Caroline--who’s squirming to get free of her sister’s headlock--a talk, dark-haired woman they recognize comes running from a just-opened elevator.

“Marta, is Jimmy back yet?” Andy asks, not even looking at the girls.

“No,” the cranky woman sasses, and she clearly doesn’t like Andy any better than her visitors. “So you’re not in trouble, yet.”

“Andy?” Caroline squeals, having broken free of Cassidy’s grip. “You are Andy, right?”

Andy turns to look at them, and the horror on her face is almost as funny as when they do the same thing to Emily. Cassidy just feels a bit bad because Emily is usually expecting it. Judging by the way Andy drops her water bottle and all the paper she’s carrying, Andy was definitely not expecting anything.

“Caroline?” Andy gasps, and Cassidy is a little impressed that she addressed the right twin. They barely remembered her name, but she’s one of about five people who bothers to tell them apart. “And Cassidy? Hi. Um...”

“We got a cab here,” Cassidy buts in, because there’s no telling how quickly they’re going to get kicked out. Mom always says you should ask people for things when they don’t have time to think about it, though it makes her frown when Cassidy tries that tactic on her (it got them Patricia though, so totally worth it).

“Yeah,” Caroline jumps back in, glaring at the receptionist. “We really, really need to talk to you about our Mom.”

“Girls, I am the last person you should be talking to about--”

“We know you quit!” Caroline jumps in, her face red with excitement. “But honestly Andy, this is just the most important thing in the whole world.”

“Is your Mom okay?” Andy looks panicked, which Cassidy thinks is a Very Good Sign for their mission. Maybe she should be surprised that Mom likes girls, but it doesn’t seem so strange if it’s someone like Andy.

Okay, so she dresses like a crazy person with a Banana Republic gift card, but she’s always been kind to them, and Cassidy doesn’t really know a lot of kind people. Mom can make anyone look prettier, so that will all be taken care of. What matters is the words that Mom used in her journal, words that Cassidy has never heard her say to anyone, not even when Stephen bought Mom that fancy diamond ring and before he acted like a ‘complete dick’ as Caroline likes to sum it up.

“Mom is mostly okay,” Cassidy admits. “But we need your help, and really it’s for her, not us.”

Andy bends to pick up her papers, and her water bottle, but Cassidy can see that she’s still thinking. Andy has one of those faces that just makes it way too easy to see what’s on her mind; Cassidy and Caroline have used that to their advantage more than once.

“Wait a minute,” Andy says as she stands up again and looks at her watch. It’s not a very pretty one. It might actually be digital, Cassidy thinks with a shudder. “It’s not even ten. You two are supposed to be in school!”

“Right,” Cassidy presses on. “So that shows you how important it is.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Andy says with a big sigh. “Wait here.”

She disappears into the noisy big room behind the double doors. It looks nothing like _Runway_ , where everything is clean and white and nobody yells. Caroline is rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, already reveling in their victory. Cassidy doesn’t feel quite confident yet, and they still have a long way to go before they’re even close to getting what they want.

Sure enough, Andy comes back out without all the things she was carrying, but she’s talking on her cellphone.

“I know, Em. Don’t say anything to...right. No, I’m taking them back now. Nobody needs to know.”

Caroline nudges Cassidy, which is basically their sign to bolt, but Cassidy stands firm. If Andy is taking them back to school, that makes her a captive audience for at least twenty minutes in the back of a taxi. That might just be enough.

*

“How much sugar have you had today?” Andy asks, dropping her head back against the leather of the seat.

“Hey! None,” Caroline snaps.

“You want me to what--hang out with your Mom? She hates me!” Andy protests.

“She doesn’t hate you,” Cassidy argues, thinking of the half-finished sketches, of the unusually kind words in Mom’s journal. She can see the resemblance now, even though the journal has already been sneaked back into the private office.

“How do you know? I haven’t seen her in, what, a year?” Andy is shaking her head, and fiddling with a button on the sleeve of her jacket. “I know kids sometimes get crazy ideas, but--”

“We’re not crazy,” Cassidy spits, getting bored of this now. She is a Priestly, and she has indulged this silly journalist quite long enough. Andy will do what Caroline and Cassidy want, because one way or another, everybody does.

“Andy,” Caroline picks up the baton. “You just have to listen to our plan. I can tell from five minutes with you that you still care about our Mom, and trust us when we say that she likes you.”

“I’m going to regret this,” Andy says, closing her eyes for a moment. “But okay, shoot.”

*

Caroline is on watcher duty. There’s a tiny strip of clear glass in the front door, and if you look through at the right angle you can see straight to the parking space that Roy always uses. The signal is a simple whistle, giving Cassidy enough time to finish the final once-over and leave Andy alone in the sitting room.

Andy thinks they’re so stupid, honestly. She keeps saying ‘oh, your Mom doesn’t want to be _friends_ with me’, or ‘maybe I should just drop her an email’. Andy won’t even use the word ‘date’ when she talks about tonight. Like, does she think that Cassidy and Caroline don’t know how many girls are gay for their Mom? They hear it all the time. That and how any gay guy would be straight for Mom, and what does it matter anyway? Labels are for old people.

Caroline picked out the outfit, so at least one disaster is averted. Andy looks really pretty in the eggplant-colored dress, and although she insisted on picking out her own accessories, she hasn’t done too much damage. Her hair is pinned up, and it’s way too nice to have been done by her. Cassidy thinks it’s a very good sign that Andy cares enough to get this stuff done right. Mom won’t settle for anything less.

It’s two days until Christmas, and Cassidy has been glad to have this little project to fill up the time away from school. Mom takes a whole week off every year, starting tonight, and Caroline pouted over breakfast and made Mom promise not to get home any later than eight. So far, it’s working perfectly. Emily already sent the text confirming that Mom left when she was supposed to.

Cassidy checks her watch again, sees the big hand creeping past twelve and tries to bite back her impatience. Andy is smiling nervously, pacing in front of the fireplace and stumbling in her heels every time she turns too fast. Cassidy has serious reservations about her mother’s taste for the first time since they were introduced to Stephen, but it’s basically too late now.

Then she hears Caroline’s whistle from downstairs and it’s game on.

*

The plan is not to eavesdrop, at all. Caroline wants to, naturally, but Cassidy is so convinced by the brilliance of their plan that she doesn’t want to overhear anything that will squick them both out forever. The not-eavesdropping lasts about five minutes, because from sitting on the third floor landing they hear Andy actually _shouting_ at Mom. The “for God’s sake!” is so loud that it sends both twins scurrying downstairs without caring if they get caught.

Which means they’re standing right outside the sitting room door when Andy throws it open and comes storming out. She looks angrier than Cassidy has ever seen anyone look, ever. Until Mom comes right out behind Andy, and Cassidy finally gets why the whole world is kind of scared of their mother. It’s like her eyes have changed color, practically, and it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing if Mom started breathing smoke, she looks so mad. Even Caroline, who pretends like nothing scares her, takes Cassidy’s hand for reassurance.

“Girls!” Mom is still staring at Andy like she wants to kill her, and it’s a pretty bad sign when Mom doesn’t call them by their individual names. “Get back upstairs, right now.”

“But Mom--” Caroline, unable to help herself, blurts out.

“Caroline, Cassidy,” Andy interrupts. “I’m sorry your gift didn’t work out. But I did warn you this would happen.”

“Don’t you _dare_ talk to my children!” Mom is practically spitting, she’s so angry. She actually moves so she’s standing in front of Cassidy and Caroline, her arms stretched out like she thinks Andy is going to kidnap them.

“Like I tried to tell you, Miranda--they’re the reason I’m here tonight. But I’m going now.”

“Caroline,” Mom says, turning around and looking more shocked than angry. “Is this true?”

Caroline folds her arms over her chest, and for a moment it looks like she’s going to hold out and make Andy look like a liar.

“Yeah,” she says finally, almost in a whisper.

“It was both of us Mom,” Cassidy joins in. “Andy is supposed to be your Christmas present. You haven’t dated anyone since Stephen left--”

“Wait, what?” Andy explodes, from somewhere behind Mom. “You set us up on a _date_?”

“Um, duh,” Caroline says, sounding bored now that the danger seems to be calming.

“Girls, I’m not gay. And neither is your Mom,” Andy steps closer now, and she’s practically standing next to Mom. Cassidy thinks they make a pretty cute couple. “I thought when you said that your Mom liked me, you meant to hang out. To be a friend.”

Mom laughs at that, and it isn’t her nice laugh. It’s the fake one she uses on the phone all the time.

“Oh, is the idea so horrible, Andrea? Do you really think you’re out of my league because you managed to squeeze back into a four?”

“I meant,” Andy snaps, “that you’re out of my league, _actually_.”

“But Mom,” Cassidy interrupts, even though Mom and Andy are staring at each other again, and this time it doesn’t look quite so much like someone’s going to get murdered. “You like Andy. It said so--”

Oh. Oh no.

Cassidy doesn’t need to look at her sister, because she can _feel_ the ‘nice going, dummy’ look that’s coming her way.

“What said so, Cassidy?” Mom isn’t looking at Andy now. She isn’t looking at anyone but Cassidy, and just once Cassidy would like to be a better liar.

“Um,” Cassidy fumbles for words, but it’s no good. The truth is practically bursting out of her. “Your diary did?”

Mom goes kind of a funny shade of white, then red, then white again. Cassidy knows she’s doomed. This is going to have her grounded until she graduates college.

“Bed. Now,” Mom whispers, and Cassidy takes the chance to bolt, practically dragging Caroline along with her. While Cassidy won’t risk going anywhere but her bedroom, Caroline lingers in the hallway. She gets her own way now: she gets to eavesdrop. Shame there won’t be anything worth listening to. Andy doesn’t even like Mom that way. And they don’t even have a back-up gift for Christmas.

Everything sucks.

But twenty minutes later, Caroline throws herself through the door like she’s being chased by ninjas. She dives for cover under Cassidy’s sheets and listens for someone--well, Mom--to come in the room after her. There are no footsteps though, and a long minute later Caroline speaks.

“It totally worked!” She squeals. “Told you, I’m a genius!”

“Wait, what?” Cassidy splutters, completely confused. “Go back to the start; tell me everything.”

“Well, right. Okay,” Caroline actually pulls out her phone from her pocket, and the distraction makes Cassidy want to scream, grounded or not.

“Caroline!” Cassidy whines, as her stupid sister fiddles around with her texts.

“Right, so Mom tells Andy to leave. And Andy does, but she makes this crack about leaving Mom alone to write about Andy in her diary again!”

“Uh oh,” Cassidy interrupts.

“Yeah, exactly. I thought Mom was gonna tear her to pieces, but she just went quiet. I mean, nobody makes Mom go quiet!” Caroline pauses for breath, hamming up the drama. “And then Andy says, really softly ‘Miranda’, like it’s a question.”

“And?” Cassidy presses her sister, desperate for Caroline to continue.

“And then they were like, whispering really fast and I couldn’t understand anything!”

“Urgh,” Cassidy says.

“But then I heard kiss noises! Honest to God kiss noises.”

“So, where are they now?” Cassidy asks.

“Right here,” says Mom, from the doorway.

Cassidy can’t help it: she jumps so hard that she actually falls off her bed. She’d be more annoyed at everyone laughing if it didn’t distract from the whole being-in-trouble thing.

“Did you hurt yourself, darling?” Mom looks concerned when Cassidy pops her head back above comforter-level. Cassidy shakes her head, not trusting herself to speak. Instead, she watches Mom--and Andy, who’s still hovering at the threshold to Cassidy’s room. At least she has the sense not to just waltz in like she owns the place.

“What happened to your lipstick, Andy?” Caroline asks, and it sounds almost like she doesn’t know. Cassidy looks at Mom’s mouth and sees the evidence of a shade much darker than her own. Caroline was right!

“We need to have a talk,” Mom says, and she sounds a little sad. “Not just about privacy, and respecting it, but also this idea you have that you can give a _person_ as a gift. People aren’t things, and I thought I’d taught you better than that.”

Andy snorts, loudly. Mom turns to glare at her, but somehow it turns into something else. Cassidy doesn’t recognize the expression, but there’s no way it’s a bad one.

“It seems that Andrea and I also need to have a talk. Can I trust you both to stay in your bedrooms and start respecting my privacy again?”

“Yes, totally!” Caroline agrees, a little too fast to be convincing.

“Because grounding is already on the table, girls. Not to mention how many Christmas gifts end up under that tree.”

Cassidy feels dizzy at the thought--in all her plotting and worrying she hadn’t considered the impact on her own gifts. Mom wouldn’t actually do that, would she?

“We’ll be downstairs,” Andy pipes up. “With the sitting room door _open_ , so don’t try anything. Remember I know all your hiding places from when I worked for your Mom.”

“If you hurt her,” Caroline cuts in, looking as serious as Cassidy has ever seen her. “I mean it Andy, if you hurt our Mom, there won’t be enough books in the world to make us like you again.”

“I know,” Andy says, and she smiles in a way that Cassidy has to agree is really pretty. “But the best way to avoid that? Is to let your Mom and I take our time, okay?”

“Andrea,” Mom interrupts. “While I admire your willingness to deal with my awful children, I think they’ve had enough attention for one night. Get ready for bed, you two. I’ll be up to say goodnight.”

“But Mom,” Cassidy starts to plead. She doesn’t want this nice little scene to end--where Mom might be happy (she is, look at her keep smiling like she can’t help it) and the twins are important to the person Mom likes. She doesn’t want to fast forward to the missed dinners and the sulks that take up the whole house.

“Cassidy,” Andy is the one to answer. “Why don’t you just let your Mom enjoy the gift? And maybe next time I come over we can have movie night, all four of us?”

“Can you play Wii?” Caroline jumps in.

“Can _I_ play Wii? Bowling, tennis, you name it. Prepare to get beat, you two,” Andy says it like she means it. “But not tonight.”

“Okay,” Cassidy says.

“Okay,” Caroline agrees, and she actually crosses the room to shake Andy’s hand. Mom smiles again, and then looks a little mad at herself for doing it. This is gonna be so much fun.

“Merry Christmas, Mom,” Cassidy says as the grown-ups leave. She sees Andy reaching to take Mom’s hand.

“Merry Christmas, Bobbseys.”

As soon as the girls are alone, they dissolve into giggles and attempt some missed high-fives.

“Like I said,” Caroline says when she gets her breath back. “I really am a genius.”

Cassidy throws a pillow at her head, and the giggles start all over again.


End file.
